Division Leadership Conference - 2008

The 2008 Division Leadership Conference (DLC) hosted by CODAPAR was held January 25-27, at the Fairmont Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C. The conference provided division officers with valuable information on what makes a successful term in office, resources to access relevant and key offices within APA, its governance structure and an overview of the directorates. Participants left the DLC feeling enlightened, empowered and eager to lead their respective division to new heights.

The conference kicked off with an Opening Reception that was followed by an “Introduction to CODAPAR and the DLC” plenary led by Dr. Jan Yoder. Dr. Yoder’s presentation gave an overview of CODAPAR, its functions, how the Committee assists and advocates for divisions within the APA governance structure. She also laid out the goals for the weekend; allowing division officers to network, addressing division issues and acquainting division officers with APA and staff.

APA President, Alan E. Kazdin, PhD, officially opened the conference with a welcome address on Friday, January 25. Jean A. Carter, PhD, shared her sage advice by leading the “Best Practices for Division Presidents” plenary session. Membership trends and issues in divisions were also addressed during the conference. Attendees received updates from C.E.O. Norman B. Anderson, PhD on APA activities and the newly elected APA President-Elect, James H. Bray, PhD, gave brief remarks. The conference wrapped up with ‘hot topic’ presentations on legal issues and media relations issues.

Revisions to the Division Leadership Conference Reimbursement Policy

CODAPAR submitted an item to the Board of Directors at its June 2008 meeting requesting that the DLC reimbursement policy be amended to include hotel accommodations for the divisions’ primary representative. The currently policy states that APA would only cover travel expenses; airfare, train fare, mileage and tolls if one drove to the conference. Local ground transportation is not covered. The Board recommended approving an additional $20,000 to the DLC budget to also include hotel expenses for the divisions’ primary representative. The Council of Representatives voted to approve the increase in funds and to revise the DLC reimbursement policy at its August 2008 Meeting.

Review of Division Annual Reports

CODAPAR conducted its annual review of the Division Annual Reports. Association Rule 100 (1.1-1-3) outlines the requirements associated with division annual reports and specifies that each division should submit a report of their activities during the preceding year to the Board of Directors in a format requested by the Recording Secretary. This year, all divisions submitted their annual reports.

Six APA divisions have chapters and/or sections and, of these divisions, 91% complied with the request to submit an annual report.

In December 2007, Division 9 - Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues – SPSSI, launched a new journal “Social Issues and Policy Review”. The Division did not indicate on any of its previous annual reports that it was developing a new journal. The journal did not go through the mandated Publications and Communications Board review process. The SPSSI executive board was contacted and asked to submit the journal to P&C for review to comply with Association Bylaws – Article VI, Divisions. The Division has not yet responded.

As of June 5, 2008 the following divisions did not submit their Annual Division Journal Report, divisions 2, 8, 9, 19 and 23. The Publications Office will follow up on these reports.

CODAPAR reviewed the annual reports and noted special projects, structural changes, developments, interdivisional linkages, advocacy and policy issues as well as any areas of non-compliance. CODAPAR worked with those divisions with compliances issues to resolve them by the Board of Director’s June meeting. The Board of Directors accepted the division annual reports submitted by CODAPAR.

2008 divisional 5-year review

CODAPAR worked diligently to complete the 2008 Divisional 5-Year Review. Association Rule 100-1.4 states that every five years, the Board of Directors shall evaluate the reports of each Division, including its chapters and sections, for overall compliance with the Bylaws, Association Rules, and APA policies and report the results to the Council of Representatives.

Each division was evaluated on the information submitted in their annual reports for the past five years; 2003-2007. CODAPAR noted special projects, structural changes, developments, interdivisional linkages, advocacy and policy issues as well as any areas of non-compliance. The Divisions that were reviewed are:

CODAPAR submitted its report to the Board of Directors at its June 2008 meeting. The areas of concern with the 2007 5-Year Review were Division 2 missing its 2007 journal report; Division 8 had not sent in a copy of its 2007 Form 990 and had not filed its 2007 journal report; and Division 19 was missing its 2007 journal report.

Interdivisional Grants Project

CODAPAR sent out the “Call for Proposals” in May 2008 with a deadline of September 5. The 2008 call included the increase of IGP funds from $12,500 to $25,000. The Committee received a total of 18 proposals.

Due to the economic downturn and the financial constraints the Association found itself in at the end of 2008, the IGP was suspended for 2009 and therefore, no proposals were funded.

2008 convention activities

CODAPAR hosted its Annual Presidents-Elect Breakfast at Convention 2008 in Boston, MA.
Dr. Yoder led a short presentation on the CODAPAR mission, how the committee functions, activities it is involved in and talked about ways in which the committee interacts with division officers. The discussion then shifted to what division officers wanted and needed from CODAPAR in order to prepare for their term in office.

The second part of the Breakfast followed up to the discussion from the 2008 DLC regarding the APA web re-launch and division presence on the new site. Tony Habash, DSc, APA Chief Information Officer, gave a demonstration of the new site and facilitated a discussion with division officers around what options may be available to divisions as APA moves forward with the re-launch.

CODAPAR held its August business meeting at Convention as well. The meeting focused on an orientation for newly appointed member, Margaret Bull Kovera, PhD; re-assigning divisions to CODAPAR liaisons, discussing the presidents-elect breakfast and planning for the 2009 Division Leadership Conference. Linda Reddy, PhD, newly appointed CODAPAR member was unable to attend the meeting.

Committee appointments and elections

On the recommendation of the CODAPAR, The Board of Directors appointed Margaret Bull Kovera, PhD and Linda A. Reddy, PhD to the Committee. Both will serve terms beginning January 2009 through December 2011. Dr. Darwin and Dr. Velayo were elected by CODAPAR to serve as co-chairs of the committee for 2009.

Diversity training and representation

CODAPAR has been very active in its quest to recruit and maintain minority representation on the committee. When members rotate off the committee, CODAPAR builds its slate by making every effort to keep the profile of the committee diverse and gender balanced. In its call for nominations, CODAPAR states that it pays considerable attention to diverse representation on the Committee, including gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, racial and cultural minority status, and practice and science concerns. CODAPAR also uses the Division Leadership Conference to address diversity issues with division officers and will have a session that deals with diversity recruitment on the 2009 DLC program.